Where the taxis go 125 mph .......

Hmmm . . . whatever. I got dragged from 81st and 8th to the west
village in New York City at around 115 MPH in a Chevy Caprice once. As
I recall the fare was only a few dollars, and I felt to no compunction

What's impressive about 200kph? Toyota Corollas will do that.
200kph on the autobahn is only impressive if you're in three lanes of bumper to
bumper traffic and everyone else is doing 200kph, or
around there. Just have to watch out for non-euro tourists, from my experience.

Till it crashes at that speed. To survive a crash at that speed requires mostly
luck.

I'm embarrassed to use credit cards around Europeans, they might think I'm poor,
and by their standards I would be, being a typical
debt laden north american.
The standard of living in the US AND Canada (we're NO better) would be akin to
eastern Europe if the typical person's credit card
was taken away.
cp

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Hallo,
since i am from Germany and live actually only 70 miles from Frankfurt
am Main (be aware that there are sveral Frankfurts in Germany)
I drive normally speeds between 60 and 100 Miles per hour on the
Autobahn which is much more comfortable with the normaly more or less
grouded streets. On more and more Autobahns there are speedlimits
between 60 and 80 miles/hour (100-130km/h). Even when there is no
speedlimit there is a so called Richtgeschwindigkeit of 130km/h wich
means if something bad happens above this speed and you are innocennt of
the accident, then you will be punished regardless because you drove to
fast, even technically when it is allowed to drive so fast as you like.
To the use of creditcards in Germany: the usage of creditcards in
Germany is increasing. But the usage of creditcards is still reseved for
high pricing goods, better restaurants and gasstations.
There are several reasons for not using creditcards for Germans:
1. there are no real creditcards in Germany. We have debitcards which
are only labeled creditcards.This means on the end of the month we pay
the full debt of the card .There is no higher creditlimit involved which
can be dragged into the next month.
We have socalled Girokonto or Kontokorrentkontos for the purpose of
getting shorttime credit.
2.Creditcards tend to have expensive yearly costs.
So only people who travel in foreign countrys have creditcards. I have
two.One Mastercard from my housebank and a Visacard from Mercedes which
has no yearly costs.
But don΄t worry most Germans know the different payingcustom of our
overseaguests and nobody things you are poor because you have no cash.
Greetings
Max
cp schrieb:

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Hallo, <br>
since&nbsp; i am from Germany and live actually only 70 miles from Frankfurt
am Main (be aware that there are sveral Frankfurts in Germany)<br>
I drive normally speeds between 60 and 100 Miles per hour on the
Autobahn which is much more comfortable with the normaly more or less
grouded streets. On more and more Autobahns there are speedlimits
between 60 and 80 miles/hour (100-130km/h). Even when there is no
speedlimit there is a so called Richtgeschwindigkeit of 130km/h wich
means if something bad happens above this speed and you are innocennt
of the accident, then you will be punished regardless because you drove
to fast, even technically when it is allowed to drive so fast as you
like.<br>
<br>
<br>
To the use of creditcards in Germany: the usage of creditcards in
Germany is increasing. But the usage of creditcards is still reseved
for high pricing goods, better restaurants and gasstations.<br>
There are several reasons for not using creditcards for Germans:<br>
1. there are no real creditcards in Germany. We have debitcards which
are only labeled creditcards.This means on the end of the month we pay
the full debt of the card .There is no higher creditlimit involved
which can be dragged into the next month.<br>
We have socalled Girokonto or Kontokorrentkontos for the purpose of
getting shorttime credit.<br>
2.Creditcards tend to have expensive yearly costs.<br>
<br>
<br>
So only people who travel in foreign countrys have creditcards. I have
two.One Mastercard from my housebank and a Visacard from Mercedes which
has no yearly costs.<br>
<br>
But don&acute;t worry&nbsp; most Germans know the different payingcustom
of&nbsp; our
overseaguests and nobody things you are poor because you have no cash. <br>
&nbsp;<br>
<br>
Greetings<br>
Max<br>
<br>
<br>
cp schrieb:<br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">As the taxi eases up to 200kph the driver hums Anatolian folk
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
What's impressive about 200kph? Toyota Corollas will do that.
200kph on the autobahn is only impressive if you're in three lanes of bumper to
bumper traffic and everyone else is doing 200kph, or
around there. Just have to watch out for non-euro tourists, from my experience.
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Meanwhile, you are thankful that
Mercedes have a great reputation for safety.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
Till it crashes at that speed. To survive a crash at that speed requires mostly
luck.
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">One of the first differences you will find is how few
restaurants and
stores accept credit cards. One colleague told me, the attitude in
Germany is: "If you can't afford to pay for something, you shouldn't be\
buying it".
This still catches me out, such as when we were in a local store and
went to the check-out with a collection of electrical appliances,
proffering our credit cards. "Sorry, cash or Eurocheque only". I have
to admit, though, to a perverse pleasure in leaving the goods at the
check-out.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
I'm embarrassed to use credit cards around Europeans, they might think I'm poor,
and by their standards I would be, being a typical
debt laden north american.
The standard of living in the US AND Canada (we're NO better) would be akin to
eastern Europe if the typical person's credit card
was taken away.
cp
</pre>
</blockquote>
</body>
</html>
--------------020302000804070508070807--

I don't know, in the rest of Europe maximum speeds have been a reality
for a very long time. I believe Holland started a maximum speed in the
seventies or so. Actually, some years back the maximum was put up from
100 to 120 Kph. The Germans have *never* faltered and have always kept
their no-limits policy. I don't see many left wing governments in the
near future either..
Ximinez

--
Our three weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency...
and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope....

So what's changed since I was there in the early nineties? Now that Poland
is in the EU it does not even have a role as a classic border town?
Well, I suppose some of the EUR 75 billion the government still coughs up
every year for the eastern bits of the country must have landed on the
Oder...
DAS
For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling

Here in Germany (population 82 mio) circa 3 mio people
are insolvent (have a personal debt which is too high
to be able to pay it back ever)

Don't overestimate the financial situation in Europe
(even in countries like Germany,France etc.) as many
people do drive cars which are too expensive for them;
but as for many a car is an extremely important
symbol/statement they do spend too much money for cars
in relation to their income.
Juergen

All right... to clarify...
The car was/is important because I always wanted a cabrio (not a status
symbol) and any dreams of an SLK had to given up when a family came along.
Then I decided that before I get too old I would scrape together the cash
and bank loan to buy the car. It was a window of opportunity. And my age
at the time (50) is shown on my number plate...
Given that I do about 5000 miles (8K km) or less per year I certainly don't
need such a car and it sits expensively in the garage for days and weeks at
a time.
Surprisingly, I still have it after nearly 5 years. I thought I would get
tired of the restricted space compared even to our 190E and sell it after
maybe three years but...
DAS
For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling

Quite a nice article, even if it contains some errors.
For a start a Kneipe is bar/pub in general, not just an apple-wine-boozer.
I rather like Frankfurt but, I suppose, that's caused by my having some
personal connections.
DAS

http://portal.telegraph.co.uk/global/main.jhtml?view ήTAILS&grid=&xml=/global/2006/01/31/expat12.xml
That is old-school thinking, times have changed and
especially young people have high debts (in relation
to their income), 1000 Euros debt or more just with
cell phone companies is not uncommon - an often fatal
first step into personal insolvency (ca. 3 mio Germans
are personally insolvent).

The Eurocheque system is history since December 31st 2001 -
twothousandONE!

Normally the accepted credit cards are marked with
signs at the entry door.

A famous type of sausages is called _Frankfurter_.

As Dori already mentioned, a _Kneipe_ is a collective
term for pub (or tavern), a wine house is special kind
of a _Kneipe_.

It's a bit _faceless_ to non-Frankfurters with
all the sky scrapers (or what we in Germany call
sky scrapers).

Are we really???

No, that is not correct - there is no law stating that as
a German you have to carry your ID-card (Personalausweis)
with you in Germany.
The law says you have to have one if you are older than
16 years and that you have to be able to present it to
all the authorities which are authorized to check your
identity (German text here
http://bundesrecht.juris.de/persauswg/BJNR008070950BJNE000107320.html )
Juergen

That explains why my bank in London withdrew Eurocheques some years ago.
I thought the withdrawal was a British thing only, especially as they were
slow to introduce the Eurocheque concept in the first place and many places
here remained ignorant of the system. At that time I used only blank
Eurocheque forms and, for example, a couple of financial institutions kept
telling me there was an extra-lengthy and expensive procedure for crediting
them to my account.
This was, as the Americans say, baloney. Eurocheques used in one's own
country were regular cheques (just on different pieces of paper).
Anyway, I guess the spead of credit cards and cash machines rendered the
Eurocheque system almost redundant.
Skyscrapers (Wolkenkratzer) are skyscrapers in English, too (one word, as in
German!).
Juergen, have you been on another 'holiday'?
DAS
For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling

There were some differences like
- special design, identical for all countries
- no pre-printed currency, currency had to be
filled out - gave some _very_ surprised looks
from cashiers when I filled in DKR 300 (Danish
Crowns) and got DM 300 (German Marks, more than
thrice the value...)
and the biggest difference was that a certain amount
(here in Germany DM 300, later DM 400) were guaranteed
per each cheque by the issuing bank, means if you -
say - filled out three cheques with DM 400 each the
bank had to pay DM 1.200 to the person who presented
the cheque, no matter if the account of the cheque
issuer

One word in British english, yes, but what about
USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand...?
(serious question)
google.com says:
Results 1 - 10 of about 5,480,000 for skyscraper [definition]. (0.06
seconds)
Results 1 - 10 of about 5,760,000 for sky scraper. (0.24 seconds)

Well, I have been constantly criticising MB for
years and so as a compensation from time to time
I do have to travel to Stuttgart and then to clean
production lines, CEO toilets and such with my
toothbrush for free - wonder what will happen when
they realize I will sell my good old W123 soon and
substitute it with a VW Golf Mk5... ;-))
Juergen
P.S.: to get serious: Life has changed for me,
there's less spare time left to participate
in newsgroups etc. and at times when I'm
away from home it's even close to zero

Ha!
VW is now run by the DC guy who helped
run Chrysler for a while and then got
fired for being too agressive.
Now that the former CEO is gone
is MB still to be criticized? I will
bet that the thousands of employees
that were just fired miss the previous CEO.

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